The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, traveled on Wednesday to Mozambique Island, in the province of Nampula (north) and met with relatives of the victims of the shipwreck of April 7, due to which 98 people died, 29 survived and three remain missing.
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Through social networks, the Mozambican government reported that Nyusi comforted families and called on local and national authorities to think about how they can be supported at such a difficult time.
"As a government, let’s find out what to do to make the lives of these citizens easier, because we have to devise solutions to prevent such situations from happening again," he explained. " We will send another task force to see what needs to be done immediately and in the medium term," said the head of state.
His visit took place in the midst of three days of national mourning decreed by the Council of Ministers, effective from this Wednesday until midnight from Friday to Saturday, during which the flag of the country and the presidential pavilion will be raised at half-mast in national territory and in diplomatic and consular missions in other countries.
The Nampula Secretary of State, Jaime Neto, reported that 130 passengers were traveling on the fishing boat, who tried to go from the administrative post of Lunga, in the district of Mossuril, to the island of Mozambique. They were reportedly trying to escape the area to avoid contracting cholera.
A local authority, Silvério Nuaito, confirmed that the boat was not able to transport such a large number of people. Among the deceased are at least 59 children and many women.
Survivors of the incident, occurred on the beach of Quissanga, administrative post of Lumbo, told local media that about 80 meters from the shore they realized that the naval environment had difficulties and decided to return and not travel overloaded. At that moment the waves hit them and the boat sank.
In this regard, the Council of Ministers decided to create a commission of inquiry into the incident to clarify its causes and make recommendations to Nyusi. Moreover, the Government condemned the disinformation about the spread of cholera in the area, as it is considered to have generated panic and caused a massive evacuation of the population to other localities by sea.
The day before, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he supports the Government of Mozambique in the care of survivors.